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Hall of Fame: what the stars had to say

TONY LOCKETT (LEGEND)
“It’s a huge honour and I don’t really know what to say to tell you the truth. I can’t explain how I feel. It’s just amazing to be here in front of so many great footballers and legends. The company is so good.

“I pestered the old man and whoever would want to go and have a kick of the footy. I was pretty mad on that so I think there was a lot of time after school, or whatever, just kicking the ball around. Right from the word go I was going to be a footballer.”

JASON AKERMANIS
“He (Leigh Matthews) took me from an inconsistent half-forward, took me to the backline, I played on all little quick guys and that changed everything because I became All-Australian and then it just grew from there.

“We would have (match) simulation (during training) so I’d go down and start at half-forward and one of the half-backs was one of the Scott brothers. That was just fun for Leigh. Then he’d say second quarter go and tag Michael Voss and then Leigh, just to put the cream on the cake, would say, all right, last quarter go and tag Blacky (Simon Black) who is a middle-distance champion of WA. I knew if I could match those guys, then everything would be OK.”

PETER BELL
“I had the opportunity to play for two wonderful clubs (Fremantle, North Melbourne). But I guess (his induction) is significant for Fremantle. It’s a young club and a club that hasn’t had a whole lot of success, so I guess that does give it an extra layer of significance.

“Nobody gets more satisfaction now from watching the current Fremantle group and what they’re achieving.

“I desperately want to see them win a flag and get the monkey off their back.”

BOB HAMMOND
“Football became my education.

“And as a kid, everything the game gave me – that discipline you get from a team environment – I needed.

“Playing is always the ultimate but I am equally proud of my contribution as a coach and as an administrator. There’s 50-odd years of involvement at the top level in SA and Australia.”

MICHAEL O’LOUGHLIN
“The first bloke I met after getting off the plane was Tony Lockett. Here I was going for a run on Coogee Beach with him, this legend. I couldn’t stop grinning.

“I went home that night and rang my mates and they thought I was bullshitting. Two years later I was playing in a Grand Final.”

AUSTIN ROBERTSON
“It’s extremely humbling to get.

“You’ve got to understand that footy is a team game and without the calibre of guys that I had up the field these things that I have achieved just wouldn’t have happened.

“I wouldn’t get to kick goals if guys like Cam Blakemore and Reg Hampson, who are no longer with us and Peter Metropolis and George Young didn’t get the footy to me in Haydn Bunton’s team.”

NEIL ROBERTS
“I’ve always had a forward personality, but at a club where you’re recruiting a lot of players from the country and from interstate, there was a need to make them feel comfortable, entertain them and look after them. To build that sense of a team.

“I’m passionate about St Kilda and keeping the faith. Saints people are an extraordinary and unique bunch, I’m so grateful for what they’ve done for me.”